Wyoming History, Geography, Population, State Facts

Big Wyoming, Equality State, Cowboy State

Great Seal of the State of
Wyoming

Adoptedin 1921.

The Great Seal of the state of Wyoming was adopted in
1921.

The Secretary of State is the Custodian of the Great
Seal. The signature of the Governor, the certifying
signature of the Secretary of State and the impression of
the Great Seal represent the authority and sovereignty of
the State of Wyoming.

The U.S. acquired the land comprising Wyoming from France as part of the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803. John Colter, a fur-trapper, is the first white man known to
have entered the region. In 1807 he explored the Yellowstone area and brought
back news of its geysers and hot springs.

Robert Stuart pioneered the Oregon Trail across Wyoming in 18121813 and, in 1834,
Fort Laramie, the first permanent trading post in Wyoming, was built. Western
Wyoming was obtained by the U.S. in the 1846 Oregon Treaty with Great Britain
and as a result of the treaty ending the Mexican War in 1848.

When the Wyoming Territory was organized in 1869, Wyoming women became the first in
the nation to obtain the right to vote. In 1925 Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross became
the first woman governor in the United States.